EDITORIAL - No harm in making a classroom feel like a classroom

In her Order No. 21, Series of 2023, or the implementing guidelines for Brigada Eskwela, Department of Education Secretary Sara Duterte, also vice president, said posters, tarpaulins, unnecessary artwork, and other decorations inside classrooms should be removed to enable students to focus on their lessons.

“Schools shall ensure that school grounds, classrooms and all its walls and other school facilities are clean and free from unnecessary artwork, decorations, tarpaulin and posters at all times. Oversized signages with commercial advertisements, words of sponsorships and/or endorsements or announcements of any kind or nature shall be taken down,” part of the order read.

In the same order she ordered the decongestion of classrooms and to avoid stockpiling materials in them.

We agree with her idea of decluttering the classroom and to stop from making them as storerooms for whatever items need to be put away.

However, not so with the designation of certain posters and wall decorations as “distractions”.

There are other and better things we can do to make sure our students can focus on their lessons.

As pointed out by lawmaker France Castro of the Alliance of Concerned Teachers, one thing we can do to make sure our students can learn better in school is to lessen the number of students per class. With too many students per class, a teacher can only entertain so many questions or pay attention to so many students.

Another thing that can be done is to make sure the classrooms are comfortable. Even as we are in August we can still feel the heat, and so can our students in those crowded and sweltering classrooms. How can one concentrate on what is being taught if one is very uncomfortable?

We do have to admit that some of the posters, tarpaulins, artwork, and other decorations in the classroom are unnecessary. However, some of them are very relevant to the lessons being taught. Like the letters of the alphabet for example, or the schedule for weekly cleaning.

Along this line of thinking, this removal of “distractions” on the wall, should we also remove decorations and wall posters --as well as the totally irrelevant photos of national government officials-- from the walls of government offices so that civil servants won’t be distracted by them?

In the end there is really no harm in making a classroom feel like a classroom.